TROUBLE IN THE SKY

It is fascinating how first the financial crisis, and now a volcano (crisis) shows us how much trouble we are in, caused by the way we have chosen to organize the world.

The clouds of ash from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano creeping in over Europe is showing us just how dependent we have made our selves of oil, represented by the aerial traffic. The flexibility and shorted time in travel the planes gives us, including transporting goods and important stuff like organs, makes them almost impossible to replace. The papers tell us about all the things we are running out of due to this incident of nature; organs like a hart needs to be inside its recipient within 4 hours after its last beat if it is to be a successful transplant. Almost impossible unless one live within 4 hours of the hospital doing the procedure, and the organ donor live within 4 hours to that same hospital too. But not only organ transplants have become threatened, if you live out on the islands or far into the fjords of Norway getting to the (right) hospital in time can be a challenge when the ambulance helicopters are stuck on the ground. Lives are suddenly at risk as the aerial traffic is paralyzed and on the ground. But in the future how will we adapt to this change that most likely will come? Oil fuel will become a scarce source of energy and this week shows us how vulnerable we are without it.
In Africa (Ethiopia) they are burning their roses now because without aerial traffic working in Europe they can´t get their product out to the consumers. How weird is that, flying flowers around the world? Things will change if we will make a serious attempt to lower our carbon footprint as dramatically as the goals have been set, to avoid further increased temperatures. What are people willing too give up, and how will they who loose their business adapt?

It will be interesting to see what our local politicians (with Torill Selvold Nyborg, as County Mayor, in charge) decide when they will attempt to agree on a KLIMAPLAN (plan for reducing green gas emissions,GGE) for our county that Bergen is a part of; Hordaland.
The KLIMAPLAN on a world basis is aiming to reduce their emissions based on numbers of 1991. This is argued by many to be quite an unfair share of responsibility. A global fair target will be emission rates pr. person (a footprint based on the individual), would reveal the enormous ecological space some parts of the world takes. GGE for a North American inhabitant is over 25 mill. tons pr year, while for an African it is under 5 mill. tons. A Norwegian based in Hordaland county is responsible for 13,6 mill. tons. If we in Hordaland cut our GGE with 5% every year we will in 2020 be responsible for 7,2 mill. tons individually. (source: Hordaland Naturvernforbund)
Key words to achieve this is short traveled food, bio-energy and a lower energy consumption. And political courage to dispose land and resources smarter in an ecological point of view.